CityLab Daily: Lights Out for ‘Dark Store’ Theory?

Also: The week Seattle stood still, and a lesson in bike-friendly design.

Keep up with the most pressing, interesting, and important city stories of the day. Sign up for the CityLab Daily newsletter here.

***

What We’re Following

Lights out: In November, CityLab investigated the practice of “dark store theory,” a novel legal argument that big-box retail chains like Walmart, Target, and Menards use to slash their property taxes by assessing active stores as if they were vacant. The practice has resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in taxable value to communities in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, and beyond. It has also generated a vigorous debate about what these properties that proliferate throughout the United States should be worth during tax season. What happens if a retail apocalypse renders them worthless at the point of sale?

Now, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has pledged to close the “dark store” legal loophole in his proposed state budget. “Having large big-box stores have the property tax levied at a level as if the building is empty is absolutely a non-starter with me,” Evers told reporters last week. CityLab’s Laura Bliss has the update on where the fight over the “dark store” tax loophole goes next.

More Than a Feeling

On Thursday, we highlighted an obituary for a co-author of the song “M.T.A.,” which famously strands everyman “Charlie” on the Boston subway because he can’t afford the transfer fare. One quirky detail that stuck out to us was that then-Governor Mitt Romney sang the song with the Kingston Trio at the unveiling of the CharlieCard in 2004. We asked Daily readers if anyone could find video evidence of this momentous crossover, and reader Marlee Chong delivered, sending us this archival spot from CBS Boston that briefly shows Romney singing along with the folk group. “Unfortunately, I have not seen a full video,” she writes from Somerville, Massachusetts. But the snippet here, and the fuller story of the T’s last tokens, is worth a look. Thanks, Marlee!